Nooner Pilsner | Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

0 characters.
We love reviews! Turn your rating into one with ≥ 150 characters. Awesome. Thanks for the review!

In English, explain why you're giving this rating. Your review must discuss the beer's attributes (look, smell, taste, feel) and your overall impression in order to indicate that you have legitimately tried the beer. Nonconstructive reviews may be removed without notice and action may be taken on your account.

Notes / Commercial Description:
Nooner is our take on the classic German-style pilsner—one of the original session beers. Nooner is easy drinking yet packed with the big flavor of spicy and floral whole-cone hops.

Poured from a 12 FL. OZ. bottle into a pint glass. PKGD 12/09/14 in Mills River.

Look: Pours a gorgeous pale golden body with a thick, pure white head that billows over the top of the glass. Subtle, yet consistent carbonation would make this beer look even better in a pilsner flute.

Smell: Bready and biscuity, earthy with a hint of spice. The pilsner malt smells outstanding and the German hops (Saphir, Tettnanger, and Strisselspalt) lend that ever so familiar Euro grassy hop aroma. Also smells bone dry in classic German pils fashion.

Taste: Much more of a bready malt base than I was expecting. Also lacking a little of the earthy bitterness I was expecting from a classic German pils. Still tastes great, however, and I like how the bready malt takes center stage, with the grassy hops coming in second place.

Feel: Very dry. Light bodied with no lingering bitterness or aftertaste.

Overall: The long-awaited year round Sierra Nevada pilsner! I like it and will certainly make it a mainstay in my refrigerator.

It was hot as fuck in Chico so stepping into the tasting room's air conditioning was goosebumps inducing. The crisp chill paired with Sierra Nevada's signature hop profile is where I go in time and space when I drink this awesome pilsner.

Appearance: Pours a pretty, golden color with a quarter of a finger of white-colored head that quickly dissolved away into a thin lacing of foam that partially covered the top of the beer. Looks like a traditional pilsner should!

Aroma: Mildly aromatic with notes of bready, toasted malt, imparting notes of freshly baked French baguettes and honey. There are also notes of caramel, black pepper, and floral, grassy, piney, hops.

Taste: Exactly like the aroma. Lots of toasted malt up front, followed by honey and black pepper, and finished with some really nicely balanced floral, grassy, piney, slightly citrusy, hops. There are more hops that are usually found in a German-style pilsner, but they are all in nice balance with the toasted malt and honey. This is a delicious beer!

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, crisp and very effervescent as there is a lot of carbonation to tickle the taste buds. With an ABV of 5.2%, there is alcohol on the palate.

Overall: This is a great, American-version of a German-style Pilsner! Tons of toasted malt, honey and floral, grassy, hops, wrapped up in a clean, refreshing, crisp quaff. This is what those shitty, poser BMC pilsners should want to be like, but fail miserably in being. Very, highly recommended!

12oz bottle, from a random grocery store in Sandpoint last week. It's more than a bit after noon, but I'm sure it's still a good time to crack this one open.

This beer pours a clear, bright medium golden yellow colour, with two pudgy fingers of densely foamy, and somewhat chunky bone-white head, which leaves some random, thick paint swath lace around the glass as it slowly abates.

It smells of crisp, biscuity pale malt, a twinge of zesty yeast, soft lemon peel citrus notes, and prominent leafy, herbal, and grassy hops. The taste is still nice and peppy in its bready and grainy pale malt sweetness, tempered yet by a mildly peppery lemon essence (but not quite lemon pepper, go figure), ethereal spicy yeast, and a now sort of restrained earthy, weedy, and grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is nicely fizzy and frothy throughout, the body just on the light side of middleweight, and generally smooth, the hops already looking forward to the afternoon siesta, to the benefit of us all. It finishes off-dry, the malt staying the course, as the spicy and grassy hops stretch their arms and yawn just a little too loudly.

Overall, not a bad showing for a clean, easy day-time drinking lager, lots of fragrant hops abounding, and all held tightly together by the stern malt. Could very well see myself idly sipping away at these the rest of the day, were that an option, in both time and availability.

O: Very good, I really like the spice, lemon, citrus bitterness with a slight grassy finish, very easy drinking, definitely prefer this over Summerfest. If I had to choose between an easy drinking Sierra Nevada beer, this and Pale Ale are my two favorites so far.

Up late and going over work stuff... Picked this up recently at the COOP and pulled this from the fridge tonight and was pleasantly surprised... Pours clear pale golden with a short-lived yet sudsy white head.. Hops are a proper mix of floral and spicy with a nice punch of pils malt .. Flavor is bitter, but not really sharp minerally like some German Pils.. Great hop flavor leans toward the flowery side of things with some background spicy notes. Clean grainy maltiness adds to the authenticity of the brew... I love German lagers and this is really well done. Light/medium body with medium bubble.. perfectly drinkable.... I hope SN keeps this on through the heat of the Boise summer.

A pretty golden color, with a slight haze. The head is loose, lives a short life, and the lacing is decent.

The earthy and floral aromas from the hops are the first to hit the nose. Spice cuts in with more sniffs, along with a touch of sulfur. Relative to my typical experience with American-made Pilsners, the aroma absolutely explodes through the trip. There's cookies and crackers from the malt, and the hop spices get more complex. Pepper, cinnamon, mushy fruit. Truly delectable and intense, and somewhat enigmatic for the style? Whatever- it's a treat!

Crackers and grains are the foremost malty flavors. The mainly woodsy, somewhat spicy hop tastes are medium-hard intense, and there is maybe- just maybe- a note of butter there. The sweeter malt flavors pick up steam as the beer warms, and it does seem to transform quite a bit. It's as if we put a lot of wet leaves, minerally water and a sugar cookie in a blender and drank it from a hollowed apple. Very tasty, confounding, and by a margin the "sweetest" Pilsner of the blind taste we just did. Not really picking up on the lemon/citrus that some have mentioned but this is probably just because all I can think of is... SNICKERDOODLE! Maybe I just shouldn't let my Pilsners warm up so much. Can drinking a warmish Pilsner trigger hallucinations??

I think the beer has a great palate presence. It is snappy, crisp, and refreshing, but not too carbonated to match its relatively wholesome flavor profile. I'll go out of my way to say that this aftertaste is without a doubt the best part of the beer. Washes the mouth something beautiful- feels good and clean, ready for another sip.

A very interesting beer. Aromas and flavors are very intense- walking the line between prominent and coercive. At any rate, I don't mind the excess. I'll revisit this one for sure!

The beer pours into a Duvel glass a clear golden yellow color with a 1/2" ivory white head that settles to a ring around the glass and a thin layer on the liquid with an irregular island over the nucleation point. Sipping leaves patches and legs of lacing on the sides of the glass. Eventually there's just a small, thin island of foam on the liquid.

The aromas include floral and grassy, slightly earthy character and with a touch of malt along with the hops.

As expected from the nose, the flavors show off the hops with a touch of grassy and spicy mingling with floral in the hops. There's also a bit of earthiness in the background.

The mouth feel is light and crisp and the carbonation is moderately prickly. The finish tapers off into dry moderate bitterness with some light spicy and bitter character here and there along the way. Sometimes that ending eventually disappears into just dryness but other times there is a bit of residual earthy bitterness in the back of the palate that seems a bit much and a bit off.

Another good solid well made beer from Sierra Nevada. While this Pils won't bump some of my local favorites from my rotation it makes an excellent choice when traveling or if it is on offer at a restaurant. Its not the best Pils I've had but its above threshold for having again.

A conveniently-canned twelver of this jumped right off the shelf. I had yet to try it so I poured it into an American Pilsner glass.

Look: Clear straw-gold color with slow rising carbonation that fuels a sudsy and frothy white head. The head lingers well and leaves drooping lace. This beer is spectacularly clear, especially when held to the light.

Smell: Honey-like grains, mild fruity esters from the yeast, and a touch of burlap. The aroma is mild yet pleasant, inviting, and nuanced.

Taste: A touch of grainy sweetness upfront, with a quite delicate flash of classic noble hops; grassy, herbal, and lemony. I find the overall flavor profile coalesces into a very delicate and honeysuckle reminiscent floral character that is extraordinarily quaffable.

Feel: A simultaneously supple and crisp body that blossoms with carbonation when it hits the tongue. The middle is almost chewy with yeasty richness, and the end definitely possesses a refreshing crispness. Dry on the back of the tongue which makes the next gulp more thirst quenching. Very well brewed!

Overall: This is a great Pilsner! Available year round, very approachable yet easily enjoyed by the experienced beer advocate, and easy to find. Sierra Nevada is an extremely reliable brewer!

Nooner is one of those beers that is just a revelation. Everyone who drinks beer has had Pilsner. Originally a revolution upon its invention in Germanic areas of Europe during the 19th century, Pilsner's been beaten into the ground by American industrial brewers and dumbed-down European versions. I believe Miller even writes "a fine Pilsner beer" on some of their cans, and with no German beer law here in the U.S., nobody can stop them. Sierra Nevada shows what's possible with the style.

Nooner pours a bright yellow color in the evening ambient lighting of my house. It's noticeably lighter in color than most pale ales, and certainly Indian pale ales. The carbonation is also noticeably strong. Perhaps worrisome, the color is reminiscent of Budweiser, the leading industrial brew. However, Nooner suds up a good head and retains. Nooner laces to the bottom of the glass. Budsaki is pale and carbonated, but can't do those tricks. Nooner looks refreshing.

The aroma of Nooner really sets it apart from the wide-spread plague of so-called fine Pilsner beers. Sierra Nevada does not spare the hops. In Nooner, Sierra Nevada achieves a delicious hops bouquet of spice and grasses.

Nooner tastes delightfully crisp. The flavor crackles practically. I'm not sure exactly how they achieve this effect. The hops with their spices and grassy meadow notes team with the bright, crisp malt to make for a deliciously refreshing drink. There's just the right amount of bitterness to maintain the bright, crisp feeling. If you could brew beer in a pine meadow from a pine meadow, this seems like what you would get.

Nooner, as a Pilsner, is not a beer with a heavy malt. However, it does not come across as watery. The flavorful combination of hops and a tasty malt makes for a crisp and refreshing feel. It's right in the sweet spot of what a Pilsner should be.

I've never been a fan of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I was a 1980s craft convert, but with that Jurassic era's Boston Lager, never Sierra Nevada's ale. I've always been astonished at how successful Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has been, in light of the disagreeable taste. Yet, underlying the bland bitterness of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, there's a special hops note in the finish. It's a note that is like what Coors' advertising - never their awful brewing - is going for. This hops note brings to mind a piney mountain. In that early effort, this special note is buried under flaws, but Sierra Nevada - never resting on its laurels - has worked tirelessly. They have built that single uniquely great note into a symphony of a delicious Pilsner here.

Happy to have discovered this one. It's lighter tasting than the similar Summerfest and thankfully it is a year-round beer! The hops are there but not overpowering. This is a good beer to pair with food; it's flavor doesn't overwhelm or leave me feeling overly full like some more malty beers do. Definitely a good starting point for those who want a craft option that isn't too different in taste from macro lagers. I will be buying this one more often!

deep golden color with a slight haze, nice head and a clean smell of malt and freshness, taste is incredible malty with a crisp carbonation, a real thirst quencher and a smooth long length for a pilsner, has a little bite and a great finish. Feel is the proper balance with the proper kick and aftertaste. On a nice warm day, after you have been outside for awhile.....put a can in some ice, open and pour into a glass, how can you not like it......tell me.

A good german style pilsner with complex floral and spicy flavor and arom. With the a nice malty presence in the mixture. Very drinkable. Reminds me of my memories of drinking Jever in Berlin, but Nooner has more complexity. One of my favorites

A:foamy 3 finger head, decent retention, good clarity, pale gold in color, quite effervescent
S:pale grain, prominent yet delicate (not assertive but up front) clean hop aroma, subtle juicy citrus
T:very grainy up front and a touch of sweetness from said grain (not much), very understated clean bitterness, lacks the spiciness of a czech pilsner (I know this is not a czech pilsner it's just a comparative observation)
M:a bit dry, but maybe that's just the clean bitterness talking
O: A very good, not great, american pilsner, can't beat the availability of this beer, though it's not really what I look for in a pilsner, I would buy it again and it is worth your time

Great beer. A gem. When judged as a flavorful, somewhat light lager, this is the real deal and delivers a classic beer drinking experience. I had this the same day with two other pilsners I really like and respect, and Nooner beat them both. I'm not being too picky about "German Pilsner" being the benchmark for this, since it is better than any German pilsner I have had. It's just a damn good lager beer.

Excellent pilsner that beats all others I've tried. Amazing flavor that has lightness and drinkability skin to the Summerfest pilsner but with a deeper, more complex flavor with the hops character one would expect from Sierra Nevada